Pink Tide

In a further lurch to the left for the region we call 'Latin America,' El Salvador elected a leftist president, Mauricio Funes, for the first time in its history. The election was close, with Fuenes' Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) party capturing just over 51% of the vote, with 90% of ballots counted. The election results also make sense, seeing as how El Salvedor has one of the most unequal societies on the planet when it comes to wealth distribution - in the top 10 when comparing richest 10%/poorest 10%, and in the top 15 when using the Gini measurement of inequality. For those of you who don't know, El Salvador, like many Central American countries, has had guerilla uprisings throughout its modern history to protest unjust distribution of wealth. And like many Central American countries, El Salvador has suffered at the hands of US-backed military governments and death squads, most recently in a 12-year civil war (1980-1992. A coincidence this coincides with the Regan/Bush presidencies?). Go USA. Likewise, the take-away lesson from today is that we should stop hating Muslims, because we're probably going to be fucking ashamed of it 20 years from now, just like I'm ashamed now of my country's involvement in this region.

Words from the new president:

"Now we need a government like the one envisioned by [Archbishop of El Salvador] Óscar Arnulfo Romero, who, in his prophetic message, said that the church should have a preferential option for the poor. Paraphrasing Monseñor Romero, I would say that this government should have a preferential option for the poor, for those who need a robust government to get ahead and to be able to compete in this world of disequilibrium under fair conditions."

"Our history--what happened in 1932, the poverty of the '70s that caused the armed conflict in the '80s and the state in which many in the countryside like Izalco still find themselves today--these can be explained fundamentally by the unjust distribution of wealth, the use of the government to support the process of concentrating wealth."

I saw a starving teenager walking by my hostel today, with sharp ribs, bony arms, and a stomach that was becoming distended. He didn't LOOK unhappy, just hot, but then, it's hot here... it's rare to see this sort of thing in more urban areas. It might be the first time I've seen that, actually.

Haven't been back in the water since my sickness/rash. Kind of bummed out and lonely at my hostel, where I'm still the only guest. I stay because I like everything except the fact that I'm the only one there, but something might have to give soon. The frat house next door hasn't been an option; I was hanging out with some Canadians down the street that left today; met some folks with a house on the beach that I might be able to get into Sunday or Monday. Made a fool out of myself while drunk last night, because for some reason my brain has a hard time recognizing faces. It's a recurring issue, and seems to happen with women more than men (no, I'm not getting into details). In my cognitive science class we learned about how facial recognition is one of the most complex operations our brains perform, and that it can't be replicated by a computer (I think that's starting to change now, but it's tough), and we only can 'store' a few thousand facial patterns, which is why we think we recognize strangers sometimes, because our brains are full and trying to mash the new pattern into an existing one. This all makes me feel... not at all better about my weird handycap. Can I, like, get money from this somehow?

USA vs. El Salvador, football, tonight in San Salvador. A guy who runs a hostel near mine runs a free shuttle to watch the game, just because he wants people too. Going to try and get a seat, most everyone seems to be going.

Spell check continues to not work, I think it's this PC, the same one as before. So you can all continue to slag off about my spelling :-D